The audience who first heard the Symphony No. 9 on November 3, 1945 was not quite prepared for it. After the monumental 7th and 8th Symphonies here was a work of jovial spirits and impishness, not the grand statement everyone was expecting after the Second World War. If anything, the work bore a greater resemblance to his satirical ballet scores than to his symphonic canon. Even the great Yevgeny Mravinsky, one of the composer's champions, only conducted it one more time after the premiere before giving it up, as many critics also did.